Jemima Ballard ran a confectionery and grocery shop on South Parade
in the 1920s, in the building where the Peach family cycle shop
was until recently[1]. She took over
the premises from Clendon Etheridge who had sold fish - the fish
slab was still in place during her tenancy[1]!
She had previously been involved with several businesses in the locality,
some with her husband Frederick Bolton Ballard[2] and
others in her own name[3].
In 1902, for example, the couple had a confectionery shop on Derby
Road[4], described as
being just beyond the parish church in "a somewhat isolated
position"[5]. This
was the building known as the Clifton cabin.

She was said to have been one of the oldest tradeswomen in Matlock
Bath when she died on 9 May 1932, aged 73[5].
Her relatives have said she sat down to dinner and died[6].
After her death the Matlock auctioneer Marchant Brooks and Co.
sold her estate. She owned "a stone built lock up sales shop
fronting onto ... South Parade, containing a cafe with a verandah
at the back overlooking the river and gardens". There was
also a "small
piece of ground at the side with a Petrifying Well under, and the
total frontage of the property was estimated at 85 feet".
At the time of Mrs. Ballard's death, this property was let to Mrs.
Hackett. She also owned a two bedroomed cottage with a garden in
Upperwood. Neither property was named[7].

This
picture of her seems to have been taken from the terrace above
the landing stage in the Smith's Tea Gardens, next to the petrifying
well and workshop. In the background, on the opposite side of the
river, are the aviaries and monkey houses that were a popular attraction
from 1914 to about 1940. The stone (tufa?) building with the
two arches half hidden behind the trees is probably where two black
bears were kept during their short sojourn in Matlock Bath.

References (coloured
links are to information elsewhere on this website):

[1] Recollections of the late Mr. Frank
Clay, father of the web mistress, from private papers and notes owned
by Mrs. Doreen Buxton, some of which were written in 1992 and are
still within copyright.

[2] Jemima Harrison, the daughter of Samuel
and Jemima Harrison of Belper, married Frederick Bolton Ballard at
Christ Church, Belper in 1884. In 1891 they were at Bridge Street,
Belper with a china dealer's shop. The moved to lived in Scarthin
and were there at the time of the
1901 census.

[4]"Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield
Herald", 20 September 1902. Alleged Juvenile Shop-Breakers
at Matlock Bath.
The article was about the theft from a lock-up shop
on the Derby Road at Matlock Bath, in the occupation of Mr. Ballard.
The paper mentioned the four lads responsible and commented that the
isolation of the property was why the theft was not discovered quickly.

[5] "Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield
Herald", 14 May 1932 and probate records. She died at South
Parade.

[6] Information supplied by John Watts.

[7] The sale notice for her property and
effects ("Derbyshire Times and Chesterfield Herald",
16 July 1932) shows she owned a lock up shop, with a verandah, overlooking
the river. It had a petrifying well at the side. The frontage was
estimated at 85 feet and was let to Mrs. Hackett.